Paintbrush holder



Feb. 22, 1955 J. J. LEONARD 2,702,640

PAINTBRUSH HOLDER Filed Oct. 28, 1949 Inventor John .1. Leonard United States Patent PAINTBRUSH HOLDER John J. Leonard, Washington, D. C.

Application October 28, 1949, Serial No. 124,148

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-65) This invention relates to a paint brush and putty knife holder adapted to be suspended within a paint pail.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a bracket to be suspended within a paint pail for removably suspending and retaining paint brushes, putty knives, and similar utensils so that the bristles of the paint brushes will be kept substantially straight and will be allowed to drain into the paint pail. The use of the present bracket will avoid the necessity of leaving brushes and other instruments upon scaffolds, ladder tops, and other places, thus avoiding any serious damage to the brushes and also avoiding serious accidents.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a holder of the character described which is relatively simple in design and construction, cheap to manufacture in large quantities, easy to assemble on a paint pail, and very efficient for its intended purpose.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a holder of the character described which includes a bracket arcuated to conform to the curvature of a paint pail and having lips for suspending the bracket on the upper edge of the pail and a laterally extending plate secured to the center of the bracket, the plate being secured at an angle to the bracket so that suflicient clearance will be provided for the paint brushes removably and non-rotatably supported upon the plate. The paint brush supporting plate may also be secured to the center of the suspending bracket for pivotal movement in a horizontal plane so that the angular inclination of the plate to the bracket may be varied as desired.

These, together with various ancillary objects and features of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by the device, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated, by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the holder shown attached within a pail;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of section line 22 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the plane of section line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Specific reference will now be made to the drawings. In the several views, in the accompanying drawings and in the following specification, similar reference characters indicate corresponding elements throughout.

The embodiment of the invention which has been illustrated is formed from a single sheet of suitable material and comprises a supporting arm which is designated generally by reference character 16. The arm 16 is substantially U-shaped in cross section, said arm comprising opposed side walls 24 and 26 adapted to receive therebetween the blade of one or more putty knives 34.

One end portion of the bight 28 of the arm 16 is longitudinally split and the corresponding end portions of the elements 24 and 26 of said arm are bent outwardly in a manner to provide plates 18 which are arcuated to conform to the inner periphery 12 of the paint bucket with which said plates are engageable. Formed integrally with the upper portions of the plates 18 are clips 20 which are engageable over the usual bead 14 of the bucket 10 for removably securing said plates in position on said bucket.

At longitudinally spaced points, the upper edges of the arm 16 are provided with transversely aligned, polygonal notches or recesses 36. The notches 36 are for the reception of polygonal pins 38 which are mounted on the paint brushes 32 for removably securing said brushes on the arm, said pins including heads 40.

It is thought that the manner in which the device 15 used will be readily apparent from a consideration of the foregoing. The resilient clips 20 are engaged over the bead 14 of the bucket 10 for securing the arcuate plates 18 in position on the inner periphery 12 of said bucket. In this manner the arm 16 projects horizontally into the bucket. The polygonal pins 38 engaged in the correspondingly shaped notches 36 positively prevent rotation of the brushes in a vertical plane on the arm 16. The blade of the putty knife 34 may be wedged in the substantially U-shaped arm 16 for retaining said knife in a substantially upright position. Also, the knife may be frictionally clamped in position by pressing the sides 24 and 26 of the arm 16 inwardly and securing them through the medium of the headed pins 38. By bending the plates 18 at their junctures 30 with the arm 16, the device may be readily adjusted for mounting on various sizes or diameters of paint buckets.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as hlerein described and within the scope of the appended c aim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A holder of the character described formed from an elongated sheet of resilient metal folded longitudinally on itself for providing a supporting arm of substantially U-shaped cross-section and including spaced walls for the reception of a putty knife blade therebetween, said arm having transversely aligned notches at longitudinally spaced points in its free edges for the reception of headed elements on paint brushes for mounting said brushes on said arm and for bending the walls thereof toward each other for clamping the blade therebetween, and means for mounting the arm in a paint bucket, said arm including a longitudinally split end portion, said means comprising outwardly bent plates on said end portion engageable with the inner periphery of the bucket, and resilient clips on said plates engageable with the top portion of the bucket for removably securing said plates in position thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 543,916 Wharfe Aug. 6, 1895 568,121 Varian Sept. 22, 1896 778,272 Roop Dec. 27, 1904 1,125,931 Arnest Jan. 26, 1915 1,611,582 Davis Dec. 21, 1926 1,643,661 Kendall Sept. 27, 1927 1,961,054 Laseter May 29, 1934 2,002,202 Hein May 21, 1935 2,291,343 Millstone et a1 July 28, 1942 2,480,027 Jetfreys Aug. 23, 1949 2,506,160 Martin May 2, 1950 

